Blockbusters

1980

Seasons & Episodes

  • 1

7.2| 0h30m| en
Synopsis

Blockbusters is an American game show which had two separate runs in the 1980s. Created by Steve Ryan for Mark Goodson Productions, the first series debuted on NBC on October 27, 1980 and aired until April 23, 1982. In the first series, a team of two family members competed against a solo contestant. Blockbusters was revived on NBC from January 5 to May 1, 1987, but featured only two contestants competing. Bill Cullen hosted the 1980–1982 version, with Bob Hilton as announcer. Johnny Olson and Rich Jeffries substituted for Hilton on occasion, with Jeffries taking over for the final two weeks. Bill Rafferty hosted the 1987 version, with Jeffries announcing the entire run.

Director

Producted By

National Broadcasting Company

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Reviews

NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!
Breakinger A Brilliant Conflict
Rio Hayward All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.
Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.
hfan77 I remember Blockbusters, one of the few quiz shows from Mark Goodson that debuted in 1980. It was a show that pitted a solo player against a family pair to prove that "two heads are better than one." It was a simple game that the home audience could play along and even better, Bill Cullen as host. He added a lot to the show and added plenty of humor to the game.But NBC put Blockbusters into a time slot that was held by one of the disastrous attempts for something different in daytime, a talk show starring David Letterman. After four months of lousy ratings, it was canceled and replaced in the first half hour by a revival of Gambit that was taped in Las Vegas. The Wink Martindale-hosted show, leading into Blockbusters had to rebuild the time slot which suffered from not only low ratings but diminishing clearances by affiliates who opted syndicated talk shows such as the popular Phil Donahue Show.Other than clearance problems and rebuilding a fallen time slot, Blockbusters was a show that people could learn something and the question structure in the main game was a lot like another Bill Cullen game show that aired on NBC, Winning Streak.
Seth Nelson It's actually a game of skill, thought, race, blocking, etc.!!!!!"Blockbusters" was the game show that ran on NBC in the early 80s. The set looked like we were in a huge honeybee colony. The object of this game is like what a mole does digging across the dirt: we, being a solo player vs. a family team (two people), had to answer word questions. Solo is red; family is white. The least red can get is four, while the least white can get is five. Questions can range from easy to hard, like this memorable moment:Host (he had a hearing problem, BTW): What "E" does the doctor look at with his stethoscope?Leland (in white): Ear?Host: Nope; the ear!Leland: That's what I said!!!!!Host: Oh! I thought you said "liver." Because, liver would be correct if the stethoscope was long enough; "Ear" is right...etc.The winning team after two rounds goes on to play for $5000!!!!! The host, with a push of a button, brings forth the podium. This is more challenging; there are multiple words or phrases for the answer, and 60 seconds is needed. Here's another funny moment:Host: What "MB" is a play about a Salvation Army girl?Contestant: Myra Breckinridge?Host: Nope!After that, it was just funny!!!!! Anyways, GSN plays this every day at 9 or 9:30 in the morning. Watch this for these and more funny moments on "Blockbusters!!!!!"10 stars
Catherine_Grace_Zeh First off, I must say that this is a fun game show. Also, since I'm 24, I haven't seen every episode. However, I do know the show very well. Every time I've watched it, I've had a lot of fun playing along and watching. Despite the fact that it's finished its run, this makes me long to be a contestant. The thing I like most about it are the questions. Even though I don't know that many answers, I still have fun playing along. I hope the Game Show Network keeps it on so I can keep playing along and watching. If that happens, I will be really happy. Before I wrap this up, I'd like to say that I'll always remember this show in my memory forever. Now, in conclusion, I hope that you catch it one day before it goes off the air for good.
asherjdoak This was a good show when it was on, and the concept of the game was very original. And they couldn't have picked a better host for this show than game show great Bill Cullen. It's also one of those shows you wish you could bring back, and if it ever did come back on, I think Richard Karn (Al on "Home Improvement" & current host of "Family Feud") would be a good host.